SPORT 1913 - 2013

WORKER SPORT AS A MASS MOVEMENT A Sociological Outline NICOLA PORRO / Italy

A Preliminary Question Can we consider the sport movement at large as a mass movement according to existing sociological theories on social action? This question could be debated, because a correct answer must be referred to specific organiza- tional histories and the diversified characters of the European sports movements. This ref- erence to Europe should not to be understood as an ethnocentric approach of the problem. In fact, it was in Europe that from the 19 th century, the phenomenon of so-called spor- tization included a close relationship with three main features of modernization: na- tionalization, industrialization and urban- ization. So, if we specifically analyse the work- ers’ organizations which mobilized in order to promote sport activities, an affirmative an- swer is far simpler. The experience of the CSIT (Confédération Sportive Internationale du Travail) – or better, of its various denomi- nations as ISO (Internationale Sportive Ou- vrière, 1913), ISOS (Internationale Sportive Ouvrière Socialiste, from 1920) and later CSIT (since 1946) – is exemplary. On the one hand, we are dealing with mass organiza- tions proudly showing and declaring their social and political belonging to the working class and to the international Socialist and pro-Labour movements. On the other hand, this emphasized ideological and cultural pro- file locates the workers’ sport movement (WSM) in a political sub-system, capable of shaping social loyalties and collective identi-

fications. In brief: the relationship between a proper sports mission and an underlined po- litical identity acted as a source of legitima- cy. At the same time, it represented the basic interaction giving birth to all the crucial or- ganizational developments of the movement. The originality of this experience is already clearly perceived and pointed out in the of- ficial declaration probed in the conclusion of the 2 nd Workers’ Olympic Games held in Vi- enna (1931). Expressing their satisfaction and pride for this successful meeting – over 100.000 participants from 26 countries – the leaders of the movements claimed for sport organizations to be the ‘Fourth Great Force within the International Labour Movement’ along with Trade Unions, Socialist parties and cooperative bodies. This statement can be interpreted as a political answer to the so- ciological question outlined above. In a dra- matic political season, while Europe was dragged in a totalitarian scenario and the workers’ movement was forked by the judge- ment on the developments of the Russian revolution, the Socialist sport organization seemed to represent itself as a conscious so- cial actor. ISOS specified its mission as (i) supporting a conflict-oriented philosophy; (ii) refusing the bourgeois social order; (iii) opposing the conservative national political élites; (iv) fighting inequality. In other words, we are dealing exactly with the four consti- tuting characters of a social movement ac- cording to Alain Touraine’s (1984) theory.

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